


Broken Down

by NightysWolf



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt, Zegnautus Keep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 02:58:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16802311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightysWolf/pseuds/NightysWolf
Summary: Wandering as a duo through Zegnautus, Gladio realizes that sometimes Ignis has to be forced to take a rest...





	Broken Down

The air in Zegnautus Keep had smelled strange for Gladiolus Amicitia and Ignis Scientia the moment they had stepped into it. Cold, metallic and dry and in this it felt like a suffocating blanket of death. Driven by their worry for Noctis and Prompto the two had made their way through the fortress as fast as possible and as fast as the circumstances allowed. Despite his blindness, Ignis had kept up a steady and quick pace that had surprised Gladio a few times. The shield of the king knew that they couldn't afford to loose time, but sometimes when he saw Ignis stopping because the strategist had to reorientate himself with his cane, his heart sank and he hesitated. They were in a hurry, they were running out of time... but didn't Ignis push himself too hard? His four remaining senses had to make up for the loss of his sight, and Gladio would bet a good amount of gil on the fact, that this was wearing Ignis down way faster than he wanted.

Ignis had regained part of his former mobility and part of his former - more than impressive fighting skills - that he was able to defend himself and phase through incoming attacks, but he was still miles away from what he once was... and if Gladio was honest with his heart: no matter how determined Ignis was, he doubted that Ignis would ever be the same again. And how could he, after all that had happened in that short time.

So far they had marched through the keep with less trouble, aside from some skirmishes with various kinds of demons. In the control room they reached though, Gladio noticed for the first time that a coppery smell started to mingle into the stale air of the fortress. It became more pronounced when they watched the last security feed that hadn’t been erased from the central computers, but in turn it drifted away, when Gladio moved to the elevator and Ignis didn’t follow him at once.

Gladio stopped at the elevator and turned around. “Iggy, is everything alright?” That coppery smell - so familiar...

“I’m fine,” Scientia replied and somehow it sounded as if he was gritting his teeth. “Let’s not waste more time.” He passed Gladio by and when the shield saw the advisors back, he let out a sound that was a mix between a frustrated growl and a worried sigh. The backside of Ignis’ black leather jacket was glittering wet and dark in the artificial light of the control room, despite the fact that there was no tear in the fabric. That was one of the traits of these damn demons. They were able to slash through muscle tissue without damaging the fabric of the clothing on top of it.

Gladio grabbed Ignis‘ upper arm and stopped his movements. “Ignis, you’re bleeding.”

“It’s nothing,” Ignis replied and tried to break free from Gladio’s grip but the shield was adamant and Ignis was running out of strength faster than he wanted to admit. “We don’t have time for this.”

Amicitia shook his head and his grip around Scientia’s arm tightened, when he dragged him away from the elevator toward one of the walls. “We will make time,” he said with a hint of steel in his voice. “You are no use to us or Noct when you are pushing yourself like this and when you are hiding your injuries from us. Why didn’t you use a potion?”

By now Ignis had surrendered against Gladio’s strength and let himself be led to one of the walls. „We need all curatives in case Noct and Prompto are wounded.”

“And you bleeding out is a better alternative?” Gladio replied, while tugging on the collar of Ignis’ jacket to sign him that he should take it off.

With a sound that seemed to be half a sigh and half a suppressed moan, Ignis slipped out of the jacket and flinched, when Gladio unceremoniously pulled the bloodstained shirt out of his pants to take a look at his back. “It’s not that bad and it should have stopped bleeding by now,” the advisor said through gritted teeth, when the cold air hit his skin.

“Hate to break it to you, but that cut reaches from your shoulder to you hip and no, it’s still bleeding,” Gladio replied and with soft but persistent pressure he forced Ignis to sit down on the floor. “And a potion isn’t going to help here either. You need an elixir, whether you like it or not.” Gladio knew that Ignis tried to avoid elixirs like fire tried to go around water, because he got sick in the stomach, when he had to take them, but this time there was no other way. The rims of the cut were jagged and torn and Gladio wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least a bit of poison in that wound, but Ignis’ body seemed to have that covered already. Gladio reached into a different part of the Armiger and pulled out an elixir. He pressed the flask into Ignis gloved hand and closed Scientia’s fingers around it, until the glass cracked and the content was absorbed by Ignis body. Ignis let out a sharp hiss, as the elixir knitted his back together and Gladio could see the pain on his face, but that soon faded and what was left was a deathly pale Ignis with the dark scars building a painfully ill contrast. Gladio gave him a minute before he went around und stuffed the shirt as unceremoniously back into Ignis’ pants, as he had pulled it out.

“I can dress myself alone since I’m a child, thank you,” Ignis growled under his breath, but Gladio just chuckled before he went into a crouch next to the blind man. “I know, but for now, rest up for a few minutes and let the elixir do it’s work.” Gladio laid a hand onto Ignis shoulder as reassurance and as precaution to prevent him from getting up too early. Ignis could be stubborn as a mule sometimes, but that wasn’t always to his benefit. A few moments passed and Gladio was sure, that the blind advisor would fight against his grip, but instead Ignis let out a silent, defeated sigh and laid his hand on Gladio’s. “Maybe you are right,” he remarked softly without lifting his head. Gladio squeezed Ignis shoulder for a moment, because besides words, touch was the only thing he had left to reassure Ignis that he wasn’t alone. And slowly he began to understand, why Prompto had stayed so close to Ignis all the time. Prompto had understood way earlier that Ignis needed a different kind of support now. In hindsight, Gladio mused, had Prompto been a lot wiser in these last days and weeks that he could ever be.

For a while the two rested up in silence, the red lights in the imperial colors a sharp opposite to the bluish lights of the screens, but after a few minutes, Ignis tapped Gladio’s hand. “Would you mind helping me up? I think I’m good for now.”

“Alright,” Gladio replied and got up from his crouching pose to take Ignis hand and pulling him carefully to his feet. The advisor swayed a few moments, but then he found his balance and slipped back into his black jacket, that Gladio handed him. “You sure you can handle it?”

Ignis nodded. “I’m fine. I should be able to go on from here.”

“Follow me then,” Gladio said and moved towards the elevator, Ignis close behind with a steady pace.

**Author's Note:**

> The render to this piece can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nightyswolf/art/Broken-Down-713588502


End file.
